Perhaps
by Vincere Orbe
Summary: Meeting a person once increases your chances of seeing them again by 15%, the next time by 10%, and the next time by 5%. Be it these meetings are hallway pass-byes or directly face to face. Tsukishima knows probability well on a math basis. But how does it work on the hair that's like a red point on his radar he's never seen before and keeps coming back again? Tsukishima x OC.
1. Percentage

Summary: Meeting a person once increases your chances of seeing them again by 15%, the next time by 10%, and the next time by 5%. Be it these meetings are hallway pass-byes or directly face to face. After meeting them once, a new dot grows on the people radar. Tsukishima knows probability well on a math basis. But how does it work on the hair that's like a red point on his radar he's never seen before and keeps coming back again? Tsukishima x OC. There will be a few yaoi ships mentioned~

 **Hello! This is the author Vincere Orbe~! Thank you for giving this fic a chance! Just a quick note, the fic will contain both straight and yaoi couples/ships~~!** **Without further ado~ Hope you enjoy this chapter! ^^**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:** **Percentage**

xxx

 **Perhaps:** A possibility or maybe in a situation, question, or state of mind. Or simply an uncertainty.

xxx

Tsukishima, with a knee propped up against the lockers, struggled to catch all of the presents and letters that were (again) miraculously shoved into the small, lockless, shoe locker. He tsked in annoyance as his headphones became askew on his ears and the song he liked became jumbled and disjointed. He was alone in a balancing act and waiting for Yamaguchi to catch up. The thought had surprised him but didn't unnerve anything. Behind the glasses, which were now crooked on his nose, the boy racked his mind to get himself out of the cumbersome situation he was in.

Moving his propped up knee a little and shifting his arms an inch here and there, some more letters and boxes of chocolate fell from his hold instead. Tsukishima let out an irritated groan while others around looked him with curious glances and some with jealous angry glares. Unable to see clearly and being in a worse position than before due his reflexes failing to catch the fallen objects. Tsukishima closed his eyes and took a second.

He glanced around him to gage where the objects hand landed and began to calculate on how to maneuver himself to get them most efficiently. Tsukishima shifted the objects in his arms again. With on fell sweep his long legs brushed and gathered the boxes of chocolate and letters to him. Collecting them quickly, he stood up and balanced everything in his grasp. Everything was submitted under his control again.

Tsukishima began to adjust his crooked lenses and head phones.

"You missed a letter." She told him. Tsukishima stared down the lavender envelope held out to him. He was absolutely positive he got every single one. Where ever it was, he didn't like it. She pointed to his feet where the envelope was from.

"Just throw it out." He muttered not sparing the envelope another glance. "There's not even an addressed name on it."

"Oh, that's true." She murmured before turning and flinging the envelope into the trashcan located at the end of the lockers. The light red hair with hints of purple bobbed away before being swayed as Yamaguchi flew past and bumped into her. A flashed of familiarity appeared on Yamaguchi's expression.

The two exchanged quick apologies and continued their ways. Yamaguchi looked back for a moment as if to note something important while Tsukishima assumed it was probably the hair color that caught his eyes as it did to for him. Feeling apologetic and guilt, Yamaguchi quickly took the load of letters and gifts away from Tsukishima while giving an explanation for his tardiness. Tsukishima never really understood why he was always so sorry in front of him.

 **XXX**

Yachi placed a translucent pink goodie bag tied nicely with a silken white ribbon on Yuzuki's desk.

"Tomo-chocolate, friend chocolates~!" Yachi announced. Turning exactly 90 degrees from Yuzuki's desk she pulled out another goodie bag that was a pale green. "Here's one for Shiori-chan."

"Sankyu, sankyu~" Brushing a long lavender strand away, Shiori immediately opened the bag of goodies. "Did you make some for your volleyball boys?"

"Yeah, there aren't as many in each of them though. It took a lot more than 2 tries to get them right…"Her short blond hair drooped.

Yuzuki reached out for an eraser without taking her eyes off the two homework booklets. _Copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste._

"You've worked hard~" Shiori smiled popping a chocolate into her mouth. "Oy, Keiko say thanks too."

"Ah sorry," Yuzuki quickly erased another line of writing, her focus barely faltering. Shiori sighed and threw another chocolate into her mouth.

"Aside from gurin (obligation) chocolate, are you going to give any honmei (confession) chocolates Yachi hmmmm?" Shiori asked with the goal of eating some juicy gossip along with the chocolates.

"N-no, I don't have anyone in mind." Yachi mumbled.

"Hypothetically speaking then? Is there anyone in mind now?" The long lavender haired girl grinned wider.

"Someone I like…?" Yachi tried hoping it to be the right answer.

"More specific~"

"Um… uh a senpai probably?" She muttered.

"Oh~ Yachi, how scandalous~!"

"That's just a typical answer! Yu-chan! Who would you give chocolates to on Valentine's day?" Yachi blurted, directing the flames to her. The head of cherry red hair mixed with a weird shade of purple looked up.

"Hmm… If I had to give a valentine to someone…" She stopped her copying to muse seriously for a moment. "I would give it to someone who wouldn't throw it out." Yuzuki replied blatantly.

"What?"

"E-eh..?! What kind of Valentine's day experience do you have…?" Yachi exclaimed.

"Not much actually." She went back to finishing the last minute regret homework.

"Hmph…" Shiori leaned on a perched elbow, cynical.

The two, however, were forced to accept the answer as they jolted in shock watching Yuzuki triple her copying speed when the bell rang.

* * *

The music played faintly from the white headphones, loud enough that only Tsukishima could hear. It travelled from the headphones that sat daintily around his pale neck to his sensitive ears. His thumb idly swiped at the screen of his phone wearing an unconcerned face with the "news" in the newsfeed. Silently, his eyes almost missed the—

"Tsukki! I'm back!" Yamaguchi jogged back lightly from the shoe lockers. Tsukishima just nodded.

"What did you need to get?" Tsukishima asked. The shoe lockers could barely hold anything aside for its intended purpose or persistent gifts.

"It's just something little for later." Yamaguchi waved away, his tone dismissive. "Let's go to practice!" He beamed.

"Sure…" _Another 2 hours spent with screaming hotheaded idiots…_ The 'enthusiastic' thought brushed through Tsukishima's mind. In the corner of his eyes he noticed some red and waited for a pair of girls to pass in front of him before stepping away from the shoe lockers. Tsukishima shifted the position of the headphones around his neck to his ears and changed the song playing.

 **XXX**

Resounding and echoing, the volleyball bounced itself to far end of the gym. The pain was instant, the heat spreading to indicate where the cut was and the instinctive reaction to press a hand against it caused more stinging. He was blinded from the absence of his glasses and the blood flowing down that threatened to enter his eyes.

There was commotion; there was always commotion during practice. But now, they were all coming towards him in every direction at the same time. Shouting and yelling, an annoying stampede of thundering steps. In blurred vision, Tsukishima waved a hand around recklessly to the many that were outstretched to him. Contacting one, Suguwara pulled him up to his feet again. The next instant his glasses that became airborne for a bit were placed in his hands. He could hear Yamaguchi's worried voice blending with other tones of worry and concern.

 _Today of all days…_ Tsukishima grumbled clutching his glasses that had taken a hard hit from the haywire volleyball when it should've been the sport glasses that he forgot to bring today taking the impact. Inside he was cussing at Hinata or the stupid 'King' that probably sent the volleyball his way.

Able keep one eye opened, he swatted away a hovering hand that was trying to press white mesh against him and blocking what little vision he had left. In the midst of the blur, he could see ovular spots that were shoes step away as blood dripped on to the gym floor. He felt more mesh being pushed to him. In annoyance, exasperation, pain, and irritation he snatched the mesh and stalked out of the gym. Calls and yelling echoed behind him.

Going solely by memory, he maneuvered himself to the nurse's office. Tsukishima watched the blurry figure inside jolt as he opened the door harder than intended. There was a lack of the signature white on the hazy figure, relating to Tsukishima that the nurse was absent adding more fire to his built up annoyance. Nonetheless, he watched a head full of red (?) hair motion him to one of the low white beds.

After some clacking and blurry movements in the distance, the cherry red hair floated back. Now closer and a better resolution, Tsukishima recognized the red hinted with purple hair from this morning. Rolling up her uniform and sliding on gloves, Tsukishima moved the mesh away from his wound that went diagonally from the bridge of his nose to the tip of his brow. Gently, she cleaned up the mess blood made on his features. Her pastel eyes seemed languish but showed focused and concentrated.

She turned away and hunched over the silver tray she had brought over before. Tsukishima slid his glasses back on again only to grumble in annoyance at the angle the glasses were tilting now thanks to the little incident. He was beyond ready to wreck whoever the culprit was, especially a certain orange haired idiot. Noting the girl's own weirdly colored hair, his irritated level increased again. He watched her turn around again with another soaked cottoned in between the silver forceps.

"Can you move your glasses for a moment? I still need to disinfect the wound." She asked. Reverting back to blurry vision, Tsukishima really can't wait to release some verbal abuse on the culprit as the wound stung from the hydroperoxide. Yuzuki took a risky glance at his face.

"Can't you just put a band-aid on and be done with it?" Tsukishima grumbled catching her.

"Although the team does clean the volleyballs often the growth rate of bacteria still exceeds how long it can stay clean. Isn't that right college-prepclass-san?" She uttered quietly. Tsukishima's eye twitched.

Yuzuki stiffened to keep her wits while his deadly glare burned. Hastily she pasted the band-aid on him, careful to only touch the band-aid.

The door slide open just in time before Tsukishima could tell his signature mean jokes.

"Tsukki! How's the cut?" Yamaguchi shouted across the nurse's office.

"It's fine…" He uttered in reply but Yamaguchi's attention wasn't gathered on him.

"Yuzuki-san! I didn't know it was your shift to be in the nurse's office today." Yamaguchi brightened.

Tsukishima watched as the red-purple head turn in slight surprise from the shelf that stored the band-aids she was returning. She answered him with the same brightness.

"I didn't think I would see you too Yamaguchi-san." Yuzuki replied smiling.

"Ah Tsukki, this Yuzuki-san. She's in my Sports-Med class and often volunteers to help the school nurse for experience and stuff." Yamaguchi quickly explained.

Tsukishima just nodded and looked away. Sports-med was one of the few classes that he didn't have with Yamaguchi which answered why he hasn't seen her around him before. But her red contrasted so much with Yamaguchi's dull brown hair. What was the probability of him not seeing her before?

"Yamaguchi, let's head back to practice." Tsukishima ordered seeing that there wasn't an end to their small talk. Obediently, Yamaguchi followed happily along and waved to Yuzuki before leaving.

When the door shut and the footsteps ended, Yuzuki reached for a chair to sit and breathe again. This kind of thing twice a day was really not good for her heart.

* * *

 **Thanks for reaching the end of this chapter~!**

 **I really hope you like it so far! If have anything you want to point out to me or just to say a hello~ I'd love to chat in the comments/reviews!**

 **Hopefully you will stick around for chapter 2!**

 **Have a nice mid-autumn's festival to those who celebrate it! ;)**

 **~Vincere Orbe**


	2. Probability

**Hello~!**

 **Firstly thank you all for the love you've already shown for the fic!**

 **It was great reading the reviews that were sent! :D**

 **But on a side note, although I should've mentioned it in the chapter before, I will be updating this fic on a bi-weekly basis due to the nature of my schedule for school! Hopefully this won't hinder reading too much...**

 **If possible I will try to upload more often or as fast as my fingers can type!**

 **Anyways without further ado~ Hope you guys enjoy the new update! :D**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Probability**

"What's that for…" Tsukishima muttered.

"F-for the cut!" Asahi bowed holding a big box of multi-flavoured mochi.

"Whoa~ what's happening? An offering to the Stingy-salt god?!" Hinata exclaimed catching everyone's attention in the gym.

 _You couldn't have said it any louder could you…_ Tsukishima thought with a bland expression.

He pushed the colorful package back. "It's alright Azumane-senpai, the apology yesterday was enough." He said with an invisible edge remembering the lengthily, stuttering, and slobbery mess of an apology that lasted more than 20 minutes and would've continued after practice if he didn't have his headphones on as soon as he finished speed-changing.

"Hey, hey Tsukishima don't be mean to Asahi." Daichi warned with a strained smile. "We've still got practice to do, no time for counselling."

"Yeah don't bully Asahi!" Nishinoya shouted from somewhere in the gym.

"Oooh but the mochi looks tasty. It would be a waste to return it to the store." Suguwara commented suddenly peering beside Asahi. The other party jumped.

"Ah… I think the last time I had mochi was during New Year's…" Hinata drooled.

"Me too..." Kageyama, coming out from Hinata's shadow, joined him in the reminiscent.

The team started to congregate more and more around them. Tsukishima frowned in discomfort.

"Why don't we just share it amongst the team since Tsukishima-san is too embarrassed to accept it?" Suguwara suggested, successfully solving the problem with everyone on his side while Tsukishima's eye twitched at the comment.

The nicely colored box (and Asahi that was still holding it) was instantly at the mercy of the volleyball team with Daichi sighing at the futility to remind everyone about practice but joining the joy anyways. Tsukishima avoided the commotion erupting to celebrate Suguwara's solution.

 _These idiots…_ He grumbled predicting the havoc for bathrooms later.

"Tsukki, there's a strawberry flavored one…" Yamaguchi whispered aside.

Tsukishima looked at him for a moment. But muttered a stubborn "So" and stalked off to continue with warm-up.

"Yamaguchi do you want one?" Daichi called over.

"No…Um…uh, actually can you give me the strawberry one!" He shouted stepping to the crowd in quick strides to retrieve the treat and instantly snapped back to Tsukki like an elastic.

 **XXX**

Stumbling over her two left feet, Yachi stretched the backs of her outdoor shoes in order to yank them off as quickly as possible. Her mind was occupied with being late and wondering where she last put the air pump.

"Yachi-chan! Prep work can wait a little. Come have some sweets that Asahi brought!" Daichi called holding up one of the sweets.

"A-ah yes! Th-thank you!" Yachi replied and tripped over the edge of the step. Her shoe flew a couple meters behind without her knowing.

"Whoa there's a whole bunch to choose from!" Her eyes shined, joining the circle of figures huddled over the mochi held by a nervous Asahi.

"Here have the chocolate one!" Suga picked one for her.

"No try the green tea one!" Hinata blurted.

"Orange one is the way to go!" Nishinoya shouted.

"Strawberry!"

"Ttryf tha milf one!"

"Kageyama talking with your mouth full is dangerous…" Sugawara cautioned with a concerned expression.

"Excuse me." Yuzuki knocked again patiently on the door to the gym for the fourth time and jolted as eleven pairs of eyes finally noticed her. She held up first aid kit to show hr purpose.

Her brows furrowed watching her small blond friend cough out her guts and quickly run to retrieve the box from her.

"Sorry Yu-chan! I forgot to come by!" Yachi apologized still recovering from inhaling mochi powder.

"Its fine, the nurse's office isn't busy today anyways."

"You should come in! We're having just having a quick snack right now!" Yachi grinned.

 _Maybe the infirmary will get busy later…_ Yuzuki said to herself knowing the possible consequences.

The captain and vice-captain greeted Yuzuki with familiarity as she bowed a little to them. Tsukishima saw a similar glow on Yamaguchi's face. _Small world isn't it..._ Tsukishima thought sarcastically.

"Now that I think about it Shimizu-senpai isn't here today." Hinata blurted munching on a strawberry sweet. There were visible stabs felt by Tanaka and Nishinoya.

"She has midterms to study for so she's skipping." Sugawara explained.

"Say Yu-chan are you good at looking for things?" Yachi asked as the two strolled to the storage room.

"Hmm? Why?" Yuzuki replied.

"I-it's nothing!" She waved off. "Um-ah! Ya-Yamaguchi-san, Tsukishima-san do you know where the air-pump is? It's not in the outside storage room!" Yachi stuttered seeing Tsukishima and Yamaguchi stretching on the side lines. She was always aware of the height difference between her and others, but standing next to two trees is another thing. Yuzuki looked up in awe seeing Tsukishima's towering height up close and the band-aid on the bridge of his nose. She wondered if it still hurt.

"I think it should be in the equipment room on the metal shelves, you know like the ones on the right side when you walk in." Yamaguchi gestured as he explained while holding his water bottle awkwardly.

"Ha? Are you sure you're fit to be a manager when you can't even remember the things you use the most." Tsukishima sneered.

"No it's just the new pump that I always forget! Because the other time I didn't put the previous one away properly and the metal tip broke off and Shimizu-san had to buy another one~!" Yachi explained speedily with her guilt spilling into the words.

Tsukishima's patronizing gaze just intensified.

"Ah, Yamaguchi-san I placed in the quick-cool packs you said you liked the other day." Yuzuki interrupted calmly.

"Really! Thanks!" Yamaguchi grinned happily. "The packs were always great to hold onto after practice."

"I also put in some bigger heat patches this time and extra mesh too although it's a little weird to go through so much ..." She glanced up at the band-aid peeking out from under Tsukishima's sport glasses.

"Tell that to the one who kept pushing non-absorbent mesh onto an open wound." Tsukishima retorted.

"Sorry~! I didn't know!" Yachi apologized immediately answering to the fault, bowing and shrinking herself even more.

"It's okay Yachi, I stuffed in an extra bag of cotton pads in case someone gets cut again. They're much better at soaking up blood than mesh and it's good for people who have sensitive skin." Tsukishima met her with an even glare. Yuzuki quickly looked away as far as she could.

"Thank you so much again Yu-chan~ You're definitely the best!" Yachi thanked

"It's no problem. I do this all the time anyways." She smiled blocking out Tsukishima's death glare.

"Ah, let's take it to the equipment room."

Yuzuki nodded eagerly to get away from holes being burned into her and the two girls began to walk away.

The girls were out of earshot.

"Yuzuki-san always adds in extra stuff for our club's first aid kit you know. Like last time she purposely brought some special shoulder heat patches and DHA* vitamin pills after I told her about how hard we were working to memorizing the plays. Although none us knew what the vitamins were for." Yamaguchi commented.

"Is that so…" Tsukishima mumbled, he was there when the team puzzled over the sudden appearance of the vitamins. _Not really thoughtful when it's got connotations_.

The two girls came out of the equipment room with Yachi holding the air pump looking embarrassed and Yuzuki half smirking behind a hand.

Tsukishima watched Daichi and Sugawara wave and spoke to the red-purple hair a little while it swayed its way to the exit. _Pretty familiar with the captains isn't she_ … He noted. It was the first time he saw her come in during practice. But to not notice before—

"YOSSHHHAA!"

"Nice Spike Tanaka!"

"HORRRAAA!" He shouted again.

"Tanaka! Don't take your shirt off!"

"Tanaka-senpai you still have mochi powder stuck to your mouth!"

Tsukishima sighed at the unnecessary noises. There was his reason for not noticing.

"It's okay Tsukki." Yamaguchi consoled.

"Mhn." He nodded in monotone and returned back to practice.

* * *

The next time he saw her was in the hallways, he caught a glimpse of red in the corner of his eye and she saw his blond hair sticking out from the crowd a mile away. Tsukishima continued his usual steady saunter with his head phones on while Yuzuki had her phone to immerse in while her two loose pig tails tapped against her shoulders lightly as she drifted. They walked past each other without sparing a glance.

But Tsukishima paused when Yamaguchi's talking beside him disappeared. He always had his volume low enough to at least get a gist of what Yamaguchi's endless chatter just in case. Looking back Yamaguchi was caught up talking to the walking ball of red-purple hair. Tsukishima couldn't read lips but he could tell they were good friends by the amount of mutual chatter.

 _Is there that much to talk about for sports med._ Tsukishima thought to himself.

Right before Yamaguchi apologized to her and ran back to him, Tsukishima quickly turned away and continued his walk again.

Yuzuki glanced back over her shoulder to see Yamaguchi run back to Tsukishima like a little puppy. He really is quite the best friend isn't he…

"Sorry Tsukki! Yuzuki was telling me that she also heard about the rumor that the principal's wig flying off during the volley practice too." Yamaguchi explained still snickering.

 _What's so good about seeing something that disturbing in real life..._ Tsukishima scowled.

"Ah! But going back to the broad casting club, they're the ones that also play the music during breaks and stuff too aside from doing announcements." Yamaguchi started not seeing his expression.

"Really." Tsukishima dished out his usual one word answer.

"Apparently they're all music junkies and pretty well rounded in genres they listen to." Yamaguchi laminated. "Oh! Also I heard that if you like the music you hear they have song lists that they prepare beforehand and play by during the day. You can also request songs too on normal basis although they can only take about 2 or 3 a day. If you really wanted to they can even promote your favorite band if you wanted as a part of afternoon announcements!"

Tsukishima just nodded. Yamaguchi peered over to Tsukishima's face.

"Sorry Tsukki..." He sighed seeing all the disinterest in the other's gold eyes.

"Hm?"

"Sorry… I just thought it would be a good club for you to join since you listen to music so much."

"No thanks. The volleyball club is taking more than enough of my time already." Tsukishima muttered with an edge.

"That's true, Tsukki does put a lot into practice now a days." Yamaguchi snickered.

"No I don't." Tsukishima lied with annoyance.

Yamaguchi just continued to grin.

"Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Tadashi, please report to the student centre, please report to the student centre."

Tsukishima listened to the message announced by the familiar voice mixed with his music while Yamaguchi freaked a little remembering something forgotten. Yamaguchi faced Tsukishima and apologized lengthily before rushing off.

Tsukishima continued his usual stride without much thought. Passing through the hallways with a passive face listening to his music and ignoring the commotion around.

There was still a good 20 minutes until lunch ended but the murmuring classroom was the best out the places he could choose from. Tsukishima cracked opened some notes to discourage anyone from approaching him.

Tsukishima's long finger tapped against his cheekbone, absently following the tune. The electric guitar part was good and blended well with the beat. The singer was smart and chose a good song to cover but the lyrics were a bit too blurred (?). He took off his headphones to fix the left earpiece, the cord connecting to the headphones themselves was starting to experience some bad contact.

The steady droning of a base played in the background.

Tsukishima looked at one of the speakers built into the ceiling.

 _This is new..._ Tsukishima muttered knowing it wasn't the overplayed pop songs that was usually broadcasted and interfered with his own music.

The song was something slow, like a rock ballad. Tsukishima listened to it critically. It definitely wasn't one of those mainstream ones. It was band he hasn't heard of before either judging by the singer. The tune was, acceptable.

 _The broadcasting club was it?_ Tsukishima mused remembering Yamaguchi's words filled with the usual apologetic tone and expression. All the information told to him probably wasn't gathered in one day or from just a few questions. A few trips to the club would've occurred too.

Tsukishima got up from his desk while the white headphones hung daintily from his pale neck.

 **XXX**

"Excuse the intrusion." Tsukishima uttered knocking on the open door to the broadcasting room.

Instantly he saw red hair jolt from the office chair and the feet on the control panel was quickly removed. The minute Yuzuki saw him at the door she slipped from the grip of the chair and fell hard to the ground.

Tsukishima watched without moving from the doorway as Yuzuki regained herself again slowly. She patted her uniform clean and then her red-purple hair in their usual loose pigtails draping over her shoulders.

 _No wonder Yamaguchi knew so much about the broadcasting club..._ Tsukishima frowned as Yuzuki crossed the room to him.

"Was there another complaint from the teachers?" Yuzuki inquired evenly, proud she could cover the nervousness in her tone perfectly and the distaste she had for his sudden entrance.

"You guys get a lot of complaints don't you?" Tsukishima sneered.

"No." She looked in the opposite direction of the cardboard box filled with angry red slips of paper.

Tsukishima made sure she saw him look over to the comments box.

"Is there something I can get you?" She asked him in an irritated tone.

"I'm here to get a song list for Yamaguchi." He told her.

"Ah right, he asked me to save one for him..." Yuzuki muttered without any suspicion and pulled out a folded sheet from her blazer. "Here."

Tsukishima took the list and tucked it in his gakuran.

"Is there anything else...?" She asked looking up.

"I'll come back with a complaint next time." Tsukishima promised before leaving.

"Please don't…" Yuzuki muttered quickly shutting the door after him.

Returning back to the comfy spinny chair, Yuzuki succumbed to her inner state of chaos and hid her face in the sleeves of her blazer. Coming over again to shock the living daylights out of her just like in the Infirmary when there should've been zero possibility. At least no one complained about the song she picked on her own accord and not from the set song list, right? The world was being really unfair.

 **XXX**

"Shiori-chan! Have you seen Yu-chan?" Yachi asked running up to a laid back, hands in pocket Shiori strolling the halls.

"Keina has club activities today remember? Why though?"

"I have something I need to tell her-! I mean ask her! Yes, I have something I really want to ask her!" Yachi's eyes glittered eagerly.

"Does it happen to have something to do with the volleyball team?" She arched a brow.

"YES!" The blond girl radiated even more.

"Hm, since its Keina's day to be the broadcasting room… You should be able to find her if you go down the west hallways or the stairs near the music room. She should be coming up those hallways right now since she likes being early for classes." Shiori deduced.

The bell for after noon classes sounded above them.

A confused look spread over Shiori's features while Yachi was still too overwhelmed by excitement with the news she has yet to announce to comprehend the problem. Yanking her hands free from the blazer's pockets Shiori confirmed that class was starting in less than five minutes on her watch.

"Hold on Yachi-chan, I'll go drag Keina here for you instead." Shiori stated already starting to sprint away.

"O-Okay!" Yachi bounced.

She must've have fallen asleep in the broadcasting room again… Shiori thought to herself rounding a corner in the increasingly busy halls.

The doors to the broadcasting room were closed.

"Oy Keina! The lunch bell rang already! Yachi-chan's looking for you too!" Shiori shouted slamming the door open.

Yuzuki slowly spun around on the cushioned chair, sitting on it with her knees hugged tightly against herself.

"Whoa…I can't tell your face from your hair…" Shiori gaped.

* * *

 **End of chapter 2! Phew!**

 **Just as a quick side-note*: About the DHA pills mentioned in the chapter, DHA is actually a really good supplement to take for infants for brain development and for adults to maintain good brain activity. I'll leave it at that. :)**

 **For future reference~ I'll put a star* near things that I will elaborate on or explain a little at the end of the chapter!**

 **And as per usual if you have anything you want note about the fic, something to suggest, or simply want to say a hello~ to me please do so! ^^**

 **Oh and as I've iterated at the beginning I will be updating this fanfic on a bi-weekly basis~!**

 **See you all next chapter!**

 **~Vince**


	3. Equal

**Hurrah for updating in the wee hours of morning!**

 **Just a quick reminder when you see a * there's a small explanation at the end of the chapter to clear up some confusion~!**

 **Anyhoo~ hope you like the chapter~!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** **Equal**

Yuzuki fed her ear buds through the line of buttons on her blazer and prepared to test her consciousness. It was the battle of the morning train rush.

Standing behind someone relatively taller than her and seemingly more awake she followed them into the train successfully. Instantly she squirmed around the wall she hid behind and found a nice corner to stand and lean against.

 _Yosh, safe and undetected._ Yuzuki praised herself and swiped-tapped an upbeat song to blast that could wake her enough to last through 1st period. The caffeine in her morning coffee was already starting to lose its effects. Sighing, she fought to keep her eyes open.

Tsukishima tilted his head side to side, cracking his neck to loosen the tenseness from yesterday's practice game. Around him was the usual tightly packed group of people, all being swayed as the train rattled on. He stood in the middle of the train cart and hung onto one of the many grab straps while towering over the vast majority. Occasionally, people would bump into him in some way. Accidently or not, he gave everyone equally unamused glare downs.

Behind his headphones, he heard the next stop being announced. People shuffled around awkwardly and magically Yamaguchi found him and took the grab strap beside his. Yamaguchi yawned consistently and his morning chats followed aimless and whimsical directions. His single odd-standing fringe drooped as he dozed off mid-sentence but still managed to keep a hold on the grab strap.

Tsukishima stared out the train cart window calmly, reciting his schedule for the day silently while occasionally checking on Yamaguchi to make sure he hadn't fallen over and set in motion a domino effect down the train cart. He blinked away the dryness in his own eyes. The practice match from yesterday became way too intense thanks to a certain duo in the team. The thought of how the orange and blue hair duo could still jump and argue with all that energy afterword made him sick. Luckily it was options for first period.

Tsukishima sighed looking around to find a way through the sea of people to the door. When the train stopped again he woke up his friend and cleverly led themselves out the train with few "sorry" or "excuse me" needed to be said. In the corner of his vision, he caught a group of brightly dyed hair and complained internally at it being a sore for the eyes to look at in the morning.

 **XXX**

"Sorry for the inconvenience. Tsukiji-sensei…" Yuzuki apologized as the nurse corrected the schedules.

"It's no problem, but I thought you really liked Tuesday's since you were insistent on getting that day." The nurse commented.

"Well their practices are on that day."

"That's true, they don't send a lot of people the nurse's office which is a good thing for you I guess." She smiled.

"Y-yeah. But it's not a really good thing." Yuzuki muttered to not sound like a slacker and in some degree of honesty.

"But I'll miss seeing you on Tuesdays, you're a great help when the basketball team stumbles in." She handed her back the authorization form. "See you on Thursdays then." The nurse smiled.

Yuzuki bowed and went out with the form happily. Now that this last hurdle was solved everything was even more exciting than before and the anticipation for their facial expressions was even more exhilarating. But that's if she didn't die from the heart attack after running into Yamaguchi the first corner she rounded down the quiet morning hallways.

"G-g-good morning Yuzuki-san…" Yamaguchi gasped. They were both taking a good 5 minutes to settle their pulses down.

"You too… Thank you for waking me up." Yuzuki was just glad she could choke down the scream.

Yuzuki glanced over Yamaguchi's shoulder at the looming Tsukishima with his not so impressed expression over the dramatized commotion.

"Ah. Back to get that checked out?" Yuzuki assumed pointing at the pale band-aid behind the tall boy's glasses.

"No." Tsukishima muttered.

"Ah yeah! Tsukki's still wearing a band-aid underneath his glasses." Yamaguchi laughed.

"I could tell." Yuzuki stated still staring. "Please be careful during practice today."

Feeling irritated Tsukishima walked around the two and sauntered off coldly. His gold eyes noticed the first-aid permission form she hid behind.

"Um, uh I'll talk to you later in sports med!" Yamaguchi stuttered shuffling nervously as his friend left. Yuzuki watched him run to the tall blond, that only he saw appear, like a little puppy again. _He's a really good friend isn't he….?_

"I'll see you after school Yamaguchi!" She called down the hallway.

"U-um yeah see you later!" He called back, but not without a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong?" Tsukishima asked when Yamaguchi rejoined his side.

"It's nothing, just thought it was a little weird she would say see you after school." Yamaguchi stated.

"She probably means later in the afternoon." Tsukishima answered.

"Heh?"

* * *

Yamaguchi gapped a little as he saw what Yuzuki meant in the morning. Again he was left out of the loop on some important news.

"Please take care of me." Yuzuki bowed to the volleyball team after the typical introductions.

"Ha! Ha! The greatness of the Karasuno Volleyball team has increased again! PITY YOURSELVES KAGETORA AND YOUR FEMALE MANAGER-LESS NEKOMA~!" Tanaka proceeded to holler to the ceiling of the gym. Tsukishima standing beside him plugged his ears in dismay.

"Yuzuki-san will be here temporarily to help Yachi-san out when Shimizu is busy with midterms. She'll also be teaching Yachi-san and Shimizu some simple first-aid." Daichi announced.

"If you get a face ball like one of your team mates suffered the other day I will be the go to person." Yuzuki stated blandly holding up a V-sign. Tsukishima barely reacted. "Eventually your current managers will be able do treatment as well. I've been authorized to train them by the school nurse."

A lightning bolt went through Nishinoya and Tanaka at the thought.

"Asahi-senpai, I beg you to send a spike to my face as hard as possible!" Tanaka stated shaking the shocked third year.

"EHH~?!"

"Please hit us your hardest spike!" Nishinoya pleaded.

"B-BUT WHY…?!"

"We… WE WANT TO BE TREATED BY KYOUKO-SAN!" The two knelt and bowed down to the startled third year.

"Hey you guys… quit making weird requests to Asahi…" Sugawara sighed and dragged the two from the floor to the court for practice

"Yata~! We get to stay after school together now! N-not that I didn't like staying with Shimizu-senpai!" Yachi stuttered.

"It's alright. Thank you so much for helping Yuzuki-san." Shimizu bowed to the red-purple color girl.

"N-not at all, I'm benefitting equally since it goes to my training hours." Yuzuki waved off. _Yachi wasn't kidding about the third year being so beautiful that it's intimidating…._

"Yuzuki-san! You didn't tell me you were joining the volleyball club!" Yamaguchi called running over with a hint of betrayal in his tone.

"Surprised expressions are the best to see." She replied back instantly.

"What about the nurse's office?"

"It's being worked out." She gave a small smile. A long shadow came by.

Yuzuki glanced up to see Tsukishima pass.

He gave her a dismissive look and walked onto the court.

 **XXX**

With a quick glance to the left Tsukishima could tell the next set was for Hinata. He jumped the instant the orange hair living exclamation mark was in the air as well. There was a resounding slap as the volleyball's speed doubled with Hinata's hit and a satisfying pain ran through Tsukishima's left hand as the ball contacted it. With its trajectory thrown off, the volleyball flew to the ground. It was another point for Tsukishima's side, the "Ultimate Defence"* team.

Nishinoya gave Tsukki a hard appreciation slap on the back before returning to position while Yamaguchi gave Tsukki an encouraging smile.

Hinata and Kageyama both wore equally frustrated expression while the rest of the "Ultimate Offense" team tried to calm them down.

"What happened to blowing a spike past my head, King?" Tsukishima taunted behind the net.

"That one was a mistake because Hinata slipped a little while running to the net and made the set 3 seconds too early." Kageyama fought back.

"It's not nice to blame everything on your partner King." Tsukishima sneered.

"Of course not! Even Hinata knows I still put the set a degree too high for him even if he did make it half a second earlier!"

"That's right! Kageyama send me another "Gwuoh!" one or the "Fwaun!'" Hinata shouted.

"It's the 'Gwah!' #2 one that we'll send past Stingyshima!" Kageyama announcing his next attack to the "unsuspecting" defenders.

"Of course!" Hinata yelled back.

"TOGETHER! YOSHA!" They both yelled in unison and fist pumped.

 _Gross…_ Tsukishima thought and returned back to position for the next rally.

"Tsukishima-kun has gotten a lot better suddenly hasn't he?" Takeda-sensei commented on the side lines.

"Although he does come off a little blasé about practice, give him a few pointers and he'll absorb it well." Coach Ukai stated crossing his arms.

"It's amazing isn't it?!" Yachi bounced excitedly beside Yuzuki.

"Un…" She stared in mute awe at the court. It was the first time she saw him play so up close.

Sugawara was the next to serve from the Ultimate Defense team.

The serve flowed through perfectly and landed into Ennoshita's arms. The ball flew over to Kageyama.

Tsukishima watched carefully as both Hinata and Asahi started to run up for a spike with Tanaka lagging slightly behind. The instant before the set was made Tsukishima jumped and made a one touch against Tanaka's spike. The ball ricocheted to Nishinoya and soon it was back over to the Offense team side.

Again Tsukishima watched everyone's movement and this time it was a no-brainer. They ball came flying to Hinata and again it was stopped by him. The ball satisfyingly landed back on the offense team's court. The annoyed expression on the King was better than any pat on the shoulder for Tsukishima.

"What's wrong, what happened to all the cheering~?" Tsukishima sneered.

"Hrm~!" Hinata made a weird sound while Kageyama mused angrily to himself.

"The next one will work." Kageyama assured Hinata placing a soft hand on the orange hair.

"But it's as if he knows when you'll hit it to me though!" Hinata whined. "He's totally on a roll today!"

Kageyama looked over to Tsukishima who tilted his chin up and looked down on them calmly

"It's alright this time for sure." Kageyama comforted and gestured for Hinata to run slower.

Just like he had promised, the next spike flew past Tsukishima. The ball grazed past Tsukishima's glasses, moving them causing the edge of his band-aid underneath glasses to shift too. The odd-ball quick strike struck the floor hard.

"YATAA~!" The Kagehina pair shouted together.

Tsukishima tsked quietly and rotated to the back end of the court.

After another couple of rallies the team switched to spike practice with small circular red mats placed in various corners of the court for aiming. The speed of the volleyballs increased. Yuzuki rubbed her tired eyes from all the fast movement.

"HOYA!" Tanaka shouted and sent one slamming to one of the red mats right in front of Yuzuki. There was no more tiredness in her eyes after that spike.

"Nice Tanaka!"

"YOSHA!" And his shirt was off being flung around in a circular motion. Yuzuki started rubbing her eyes again and looked down while Yachi flinched at the sight.

"Hinata! Next!"Kageyama shouted losing no time in practice.

The orange haired boy jumped and the ball went haywire somewhere.

"Another one!" He called again. The ball came close to hitting a target.

"One more time!" The ball came even closer.

"Another!"

Yuzuki watched the ligaments in his shoulder move to match his crazy speed and prayed that he wasn't one who needed a lot of shoulder heat patches for pulled muscles. The nurse's office didn't really stock those up often.

"ANOTHER ONE!"

"Oy, Hinata let the others have another try!" Ukai coach shouted and caught his attention in mid-air.

The ball went haywire and hit red. Yuzuki's head was hit with a surprising amount of force by the tri-colored ball. An angry pulse rose on the red-purple hair.

"BWAHAHA! Wrong target Hinata!" Tanaka shouted.

"Nice 'bulls-eye' Hinata!" Tsukishima laughed and teased loudly.

Even Yamaguchi was snickering behind a hand when Yuzuki looked up again.

 _That's right this is Volleyball… I was bound to get hit sometime…._ Yuzuki's eye twitched. Yachi and Shimizu along with anyone in the sidelines hovered over her. She could still hear Tsukishima laughing in the distance.

Yuzuki swallowed her anger in one breath and brushed the dust off of her hair. An antibacterial shower was scheduled for sure.

Hinata, frozen in an exaggerated gaping expression, received a hard hit on the head from Kageyama.

 **XXX**

"It's alright, just treat me to some ice-cream sometime." Yuzuki told the hovering energy pack called Hinata as they cleaned up.

"Let's go right now then!" Hinata shouted.

"I-it's late though…"

"Tomorrow!"

"That's a little... " Yuzuki touched her head and visible pain shot through her.

"...! I-I'll get you an ice pack!" The orange haired boy blasted off.

Tsukishima smirked at the distress Hinata plunged himself in as a consequence of his 'enthusiasm for practice'. Seeing the troubled frantic expression of Hinata and the dead look of Tanaka after being shot down with a cold glare from Shimizu for laughing made clean up all the more amusing for Tsukishima tonight.

"Tsukki your band-aid is coming off." Yamaguchi commented pointing to the spot between his eyes.

Tsukishima frowned knowing that it came from the scrimmage earlier in practice. The band-aid peeled off even more.

An idea popped into Yamaguchi's head.

"Yuzuki-san! Can you come over a sec? Tsukki's band-aid is falling off!" He called cheerfully.

Yuzuki blessed Yamaguchi inside for giving her the excuse to run away from the excessively clingy orange before he returned. She came over quickly with the first aid kit and made a small mischievous "oh" with her mouth as another opportunity came to mind.

She motioned for Yachi to come over to put her new role in use as an excuse.

"Fresh cuts like these we usually would use this small band-aid to keep it from opening more. These things are good for cuts near the eye especially." Yuzuki explained holding a tiny and hour-glass shaped piece with Yachi and Yamaguchi nodding. Tsukishima scowled bending over. "But since Tsukishima-san's wound is scabbed over already, normal band-aids will work."

With quick familiar hands she opened a new one and placed it over the cut.

"Thank you for being a model Tsukishima-san~" Yuzuki had pulled the sports glasses too far back before Tsukishima could react realizing what she was doing.

The sound of the sports glasses snapping back onto Tsukishima's face resounded through the gym.

"Tsu-Tsu-Tsukki…!" Yamaguchi gasped. Others that saw were in shock.

"Yuzuki-chan why did you do that?!" Yachi exclaimed.

"Cause he was laughing the loudest and longest…" She mumbled pouting. Yamaguchi watched helplessly with enough worry to die from. It didn't go unnoticed by Yuzuki who added to her hypothesis and fueled her bitterness at the same time. "Karma sucks doesn't?" Yuzuki glared up at the tall boy wincing.

Tsukishima rubbed the pain away while the newly placed band-aid stayed in place.

"UO-OH! Yuzuki-san's so brave!" Hinata exclaimed rushing over.

"Yeah! Show that tall stick some attitude—!" Nishinoya added skidding beside her with too much speed.

Unable to stop, the three with 160cm of height toppled over. Tsukishima sneered.

"Yeah karma sucks doesn't it, Yuzuki-san? You're practically a walking TARGET." Tsukishima retorted.

Yuzuki instantly shot up while the other two stood up shakily.

With their height difference, Yuzuki could tilt her chin up threateningly at him while Tsukishima met her with a condescending smile and even glare just by looking down. The angle was perfect.

* * *

 ***Ultimate Defense/Ultimate offense team:** It's a practice drill where the team is split into offence only and defense only group to exercise the extremes. So for here, the team splits up where the most defense strong players (ex, Noya, Tsukki, Daichi) were on one side against the ones who were best at offense of the team like Hinata, Kageyama, and Tanaka. Got this after watching one of my friends' volleyball practice xD

 **Thanks for reaching to the end of the chapter!**

 **Please do let me know what you thought about this chapter! :D**

 **Well, until the next chapter~ Good luck to everyone who are currently crying through midterm season~!**

 **-Vince**


	4. 6 Percent

**When you can't even count how many weeks have passed properly… ;_;**

 **My deepest apologies for the late update…**

 **Just a quick note, the chapter begins right after the last one's events!**

 **Anyways… enjoy the update!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: 6%**

"I'm really sorry that you had to put up with so much already on the first day." The volleyball team captain apologized while Yuzuki switched her shoes at the gym entrance.

"Don't worry about it, I was expecting something like this to happen sometime." _Just didn't think it would be today…_ Her smile was tight thinking about her head shot.

"No I'm just embarrassed for how rowdy the first and second years were acting…" He sighed, his tone obviously hinting at the perpetrators.

Tsukishima used his headphones as an excuse not to hear while Tanaka was still unreachable from reality after the fatality of being hated on by Shimizu for laughing.

"Will you be alright?" Daichi questioned.

"Yeah I'll be fine—" She arched a brow seeing him raise a finger and pointing it past her shoulder.

"Will you be alright…?" He repeated in a more doubtful tone.

"Hinata-kun… I can hold onto the ice pack myself…" Yuzuki uttered over her shoulder.

"N-no…! At least let me do this as compensation! I got you hurt twice already…" Hinata apologized while balancing the ice pack carefully on Yuzuki's head. She waved the captain off, motioning that she'll find a way.

Hinata followed her out of the gym. As awkwardly as possible the two descended the concrete steps. Hinata still held the ice steadily on her head despite the weird descent partially thanks to their similar height.

Yuzuki stared at the boy for a moment. Then suddenly she broke out into a fast walk, making sharp turns here and there in the small field in front of the gym. She tried jumping but realized he could jump higher than her, much, much higher. For her final attempt she walked slowly for a few steps before switching into a quick sprint in the complete opposite direction.

Feeling the cold of the ice still on her head, she glanced behind her to see Hinata completely unfazed by her attempts while she was quite exhausted by the movement.

"Let's go! I can walk you to the station!" He beamed.

"Don't you ride a bike home? Plus how did you know I took the train?" She told the boy who supposedly just finished a 2 hour rigorous practice.

"How did you know I rode a bike to school?" Hinata replied with equal confusion tilting his head.

"Hinata~ the ice pack is leaking water!" Sugawara commented and removed the said object from Hinata hands who was going into partial paralysis for not noticing his clumsiness. His fingers twitched nervously in mid-air.

"You better get going soon Hinata, Kageyama's getting impatient waiting for you." The silver haired boy reminded.

"Urk?! U-um..! U-gh..!" Hinata's head swiveled back and forth between the two and the demon King who's aura was growing darker by the minute.

"I-I'll definitely treat to some Garigari-kun* some time!" Hinata bowed speedily to Yuzuki before running to receive Kageyama's hard knock to his head. Yuzuki's reaction was caught between concern and confusion.

"Don't worry about those two. You should hurry and head home before it gets too late too." Sugawara smiled kindly.

Yuzuki stared at the ice pack handed back to her that was now wrapped nicely in a handkerchief. Her eyes sparkled at the act.

"Sorry again about today. The team can get a little out of hand." The silver haired apologized.

"Its fine my head doesn't hurt as much anyways." Yuzuki stated tapping the said area. Her smile tightened from the self-inflicted pain.

"I see… do you want to walk together, it's still a little dangerous for you to walk alone." Sugawara's silver brows furrowed.

"I'm walking to the train station so it's not too far. I'll be fine."

Sugawara peered behind her quickly in the direction of the train station. His worry changed to a relaxed smile. Yuzuki looked over her shoulder as well but her expression wrinkled up in annoyance at who else was heading in the same direction.

"Alright then, I'll see you." Sugawara grinned and went to walk shoulder to shoulder with Daichi.

It was too late to accept his offer to walk together now. Armouring up in the sense of putting on headphones and blasting her loudest songs, Yuzuki began walking to the train station with the tallest player of the Karasuno volleyball team and his gentle friend.

Watching his back Yuzuki tried to bore holes in it which Tsukishima faithfully ignored. Speed walking past the two, her left earbud slipped off enough in the process for her to hear the entertained Tsukishima.

"Oops almost hit the moving target." He ridiculed taking a step towards her.

 _Go get some better glasses then…_ Yuzuki felt a vein swell. She quickly fixed the earbud back into place while tasting something bitter in her mouth. Yamaguchi glanced worriedly at Tsukishima for his comment and tried to patch things up.

"Yuzuki-san…! Is your head feeling…" His words drifted off as Yuzuki picked up her pace. Wanting to try again, he sped up his steps too. "Yuzuki-san! Yuzuki-san! Let's walk together! I'm sorry we laughed—"

"Yamaguchi!"

He immediately stopped his stride and turned to Tsukishima.

"Just let her be. It's not like we're the ones who spiked the ball at her." Tsukishima grumbled scowling at his friend's need to take the blame and pulling him into it too.

"Sorry Tsukki… But still…" Yamaguchi was happy to have another friend join the team.

Yuzuki didn't hear Yamaguchi at all and only focused on heading to the train station in hopes that she could catch the train and leave all her embarrassment shown today behind. Remembering that the train usually came early during this time she began to jog putting even more space between her and the two behind.

At the train station she disposed of the leaky ice pack while the number of swelling veins increased on her head from looking at the time schedule. The next train was set to be at least 10 minutes to be cynical. Her hand clenched the handkerchief Sugawara lent her as she waited at the platform. Letting out a deep breath that became visible in the night air, her anger also became visible.

 _Him and his stupid comebacks…_ Yuzuki ranted inside and chewed at her lower lip. But her thoughts leaned more to disbelief that he could say something like that in the first place he just met. Was she really that bad at perceiving people? She kicked a can farther away from her. Retrieving it she ached being so unreasonable. Her mind tried to find a more optimistic point of view to veer herself from a sense of bitterness sinking in. Perhaps, she should've have listened to the rumors.

 _The train really is going to come 10 minutes late of all days._ More of her sighs were visible in the air.

Too make things even less in her favor, she underestimated how much ground long legs could cover.

Tsukishima picked out her red hair in the crowd in minutes and sauntered over with Yamaguchi following worriedly.

"What's the point of walking so fast when we're going to end up in the same place?" Tsukishima mocked looking down on her. The train flew past them the instant they were beside her.

Yuzuki felt an unearthly urge to rip off and snap those white SOMY headphones of his.

The train rattled on the tracks as the three stood close to one another with Yamaguchi being the middle man and none of them talking to the other. All of his efforts to reconcile the two tensions called Yuzuki and Tsukishima were ignored due to the music they were absorbed in.

Before Yamaguchi got off the train, he prayed that the two wouldn't kill each other by the sheer strength of glares they directed to one another occasionally. His sigh was embodied with worries.

For the rest of the ride the two kept the same distance from one another. Somewhere inside Yuzuki hoped that it was a light joke but the fact he was smirking every, single, time she hit her red head be it from someone else or by her own arm dangling from the grab straps…! Yuzuki pitied the middle schooler sitting in front of them that felt every bit of malice she emitted.

At the arrival of her stop she sent him her final glare which he answered with another condescending smirk just as agitating as the previous ones. Tsukishima watched Yuzuki's bitter charge off the train.

As soon as she felt the whoosh of the train's departure die down Yuzuki flattened a can near her with a strong stomp and cursed to herself regretfully.

"I SHOULD'VE KNOWN!"

 **XXX**

"As people say, some things are better to be observed from afar than up close." Shiori stated holding up a finger from the other side of the phone.

"You don't understand…" Yuzuki muttered, face planting, into her pillow.

"Whaattt~? I can't hear you?" Shiori complained. "Come on don't worry about it I have tons of experience in these things." She laughed through the phone in static while making a v to her chin.

Yuzuki shot up from face planting.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU COULD LITERALLY SMELL THE CAKE BURNING FROM ACROSS THE ROOM." Yuzuki shouted into the device. "No matter how well I decorated it or how good it looks from afar SHE STILL KNOWS."

"Fake it till you make it is what I do it all the time." Shiori stated holding her cell far from her ear. "It's just one assignment for Home-Economics calm down"

"I can't copy your outlook in life Shiori I actually need Home-Economics to pull up my grade average as sad as it is…" Yuzuki mumbled.

"Well no matter how hurt you feel when the mark comes back it can't be as worse that spike to the head from the other day~"

"Right, volleyball is another thing that should be seen only from afar…" Yuzuki uttered with a blank face falling back into bed. Her sigh matched the "poof" her bed made as it absorbed her into it.

There was more static filled laughter from her friend.

"Hey, hey tell me more about what happened at the volleyball club. Yachi won't tell me anything after your head shot!" Shiori was still giggling.

"Of course, I've only been there for one practice what more is there to say." She muttered. "You've already received news of the biggest highlight there is."

"Nah I don't think so~" Shiori replied, her tone obviously hinting to gossip much more delicious than the ice cream she was plowing through.

"I think so, no one on the team is your type by the way."

"Aw that sucks." Her answer was sarcastic and half-hearted. "But what about you~? There has to be your type in the mix right~? How about that one with short black hair? OH! I know the super tall one with the blond hair?"

"There's definitely nothing to talk about there." Yuzuki answered in an annoyed tone.

"Aw come on there's bound to be something~ you sound so annoyed~ there is something."

Yuzuki ended the call. _Oh my god…_ she furrowed her brows for thinking she let her mouth slip.

She saw the text message notification light flash in the top left corner of her phone.

" _I'm glad! Continue putting lots of ice on it!_

 _Hope you get better soon."_

There were several smiley face emo-cons of different types that followed the two lines.

Yuzuki made a small side smile at the excessiveness.

" _Thank you Yamaguchi-san:)"_

 _Send…_ She pressed the button with some force before sighing. _That clears things up with Yamaguchi although he's a bit of a worrier…_ Yuzuki liked that kind of a trait. At least she was able to patch things up with Yamaguchi again. One less thing to roll in her covers and think about.

Yuzuki flopped back onto her back again. Feeling the side of her head where a small bump had formed from when Hinata spiked the ball at her bullseye colored hair. Inside she wondered how much muscle was in that thin arm of his to deal so much strength. If she had that kind of power to muscle ratio taking the groceries home would be a breeze. Using it to punch a certain sneering tall blondy seemed like a good idea too.

Her cell phone vibrated again. Expecting a text to be from Yamaguchi she was slightly surprised it was from Yachi. In text messages, there was no one who could beat Yachi in emo-cons use. Almost after every word there would be a small little expression indicator. But thinking about it, Yachi did use a lot of gestures and expressions when she talked in real life. The huge amount of emo-cons just made it easier to imagine her tones and movements.

She replied back with a lengthily text to tell her everything was still fine and she was still going tomorrow. Seeing it send, Yuzuki shut her cell and threw it onto her night stand. She stretched a hand to feel around the bed and grabbed a round goofy stuffy to hug.

 _Volleyball practice…. That means I'll to see his ugly smirking face again…_ Yuzuki thought mentally preparing herself for the possible carnage he may deal. She chewed at her lip again. The clock on her night stand slowly ticked away towards midnight. _But_ _who knew volleyball would that cool to watch up close though…._ Her thoughts drifted. _It's definitely better than peering from behind a door crack._

Yuzuki fell asleep on top of her covers while hugging the goofy stuffy and felt a little bubbly inside.

"Yuzuki-san!" Yamaguchi called running up to her.

"Oh hey Yamaguchi! Look~ I brought a whole box of cold packs~!" She turned with cardboard box and all to greet back brightly until she saw Tsukishima behind him. He glared at her, she glared back unwillingly.

"I thought you weren't going coming to practice today after that accident." Yamaguchi voiced his worry while wearing a relieved smile.

"Of course not. I promised I would come to the practices."

"That's great, I heard we're doing spike practice again." Tsukishima interjected.

"All the more reason I should be here." Yuzuki countered in a dismissive tone. "You never know who might get a face-ball next or again." She could still see the small band-aid on the bridge of his nose.

"That's if the nurse herself doesn't get out first." He smirked.

"With 17 people in the club including me, there's about a 6% chance of getting hit and that's not including how big the gym is too which is a pretty good probability for me." She stated.

"You're math is pretty fast Yuzuki-san, but you're forgetting that some targets are more visible than others." Tsukishima glanced at her red-purple hair and entered into the gym.

"Like your blond hair is all that inconspicuous… Just go walk into a sign already…." Yuzuki seethed to herself.

"Sorry… he can be a little mean sometimes…" Yamaguchi apologized.

"Oh I know..." Yuzuki stalked off to the store room. _I should break the cold packs he gets…_ She schemed.

 **XXX**

Yuzuki threw a volleyball for Nishinoya to set to an imaginary target.

"How did you dye your hair Yuzuki-san by the way? I usually get my done by Ryu's nee-san!" The happy libero called.

"Is that so…!" She stuttered running to catch the ball. She had to take a moment to process and connect that Ryu = the rowdy Tanaka.

"Do you usually dye your hair yourself?" Nishinoya continued the conversation and expertly received a throw that was too low.

"Ah-ha… yeah… I try…" Her voice reflecting the little enthusiasm for the topic of her frizzy red-purple hair tied in loose pig tails. "My hair right now… is from a bit of a mess up…"Yuzuki's voiced trailed off as she recounted her fail of an attempt to pastel. She relived the horror she felt seeing her new hair color for the next four months the first time in 2.0 seconds. Gloom surrounded her.

"Yu-chan!" Yachi called from the gym doors.

"Yeah!" "Yeah?" Nishinoya and Yuzuki answered together. They looked at one another with mirroring blank faces.

"Yu-chan, do you know if I brought my water bottle into the gym yet?" Yachi continued completely oblivious to the discovery.

"Um… no, I think it's still in the change room." Yuzuki answered calmly.

"Thank you!" She bounced away.

The two turned back to staring each other.

"Nishinoya **Yu**." He pointed to himself, lunging forward

"Keina **Yu** zuki." She copied.

"I get called Yu-chan at home all the time!"

"Me too."

Their eyes shone at the sudden eureka moment and sparkles blew their minds.

"WE BOTH HAVE DYED HAIRED TOO!" Nishinoya bellowed doing the elvis point with both hands to her. His mind was blown.

"What? What? What's happening?!" Hinata sleuthed over to their earthshattering conversation after being fed up and taking a break from Kageyama's occasional oppressive kingly judgments.

"SHOYO YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT WE JUST DISCOVERED!" Nishinoya stated and began to blow Hinata's mind too over this matter.

Tsukishima watched the three in apathy as commotion broke out amongst them or mainly two of them. Behind his black frames Yuzuki looked out of place compared to the other two hyper active hotheads jumping around. _She's making alliances in the team pretty quickly isn't she…?_

"Should we go join them?" Yamaguchi suggested with a hopeful smile. Tsukishima quickly looked away from being found out. "It's great that Yuzuki-san is getting along with them isn't it?" Yamaguchi commented bending over to touch the tips of his shoes.

"They must've bonded well after realizing they were all the same height." He mumbled, focusing on his stretching.

"Tsukki..." Yamaguchi laughed along weakly.

"You're wrong Tsukishima." Nishinoya interjected pointing a finger to him. Tsukishima frowned being eavesdropped on. "Our bond is more than that now… for we are…." Kageyama who was asking Hinata for forgiveness was promptly pushed away.

"THE DYED HAIR TRIO!" The 160cm triplet stood in a triangle formation with Yuzuki in the middle and saying it in a much blander and quieter tone. The much taller boy's eyes remained apathetic and turned away while Yamaguchi giggled at the display.

"The heck Hinata?! Why did you push me away?!" Kageyama shouted immediately. Tsukishima took this chance to walk away from the congregation of idiots.

"It's not like you have beautifully dyed hair like us!" Hinata shouted back messaging his head where Kageyama's iron claw clamped onto.

"Dyed? Your hair's naturally orange isn't it?! If you can't even use adjectives right you'll flunk the next term test, we're gonna lose practice time again! Is what Yachi-san taught us already go out of your head?!" Kageyama yelled back.

"It's not like you remember anything she taught you either Bakayama!" Hinata retorted.

"WHAT?!"

"HA! I'm right aren't I?!"

"…!"

Yuzuki observed the two bicker with a volleyball in hand and was reminded of the couple in a drama her and her sister was watching the other day.

"Oy. Oy break it up you two." Daichi ordered entering the gym before Yuzuki could ask about their well-being.

"Oh Yuzuki-san you're here early!" Sugawara commented and sent a relieved smile to Daichi that they didn't lose the new member.

"Yeah, I met up with Hinata-kun in hallways and came straight here with him." She nodded with a smile.

"That's right, Yuzuki-san is a first year right?"

"Ah… I remember being that young and coming to the club for the first time…" Asahi reminisced earning himself slaps from Sugawara and Daichi to wince and tear- up a little over.

"Asahi if you keep this up you're going to end up turning 30 for you birthday this year!" Nishinoya teased.

"Is that a gray hair I see?" Sugawara commented ironically.

"EHHH?!" The ace of the team gasped and whimpered.

 _Hahaha…. There's no way this guy can be an Asian gang leader like in the rumors..._ Yuzuki thought laughing along with everyone while she remembered some rumors.

She looked over her shoulder to eye Tsukishima's back still walking away if not even faster than before. His tall figure showing not a flinch or attention the commotion happening. As if feeling her stare he looked back to smirk at the idiocrasy. Catching her glare he turned away again.

 **XXX**

Yuzuki stared at the glowing phone screen without much interest. Inside she brooded over the fact that she couldn't escape riding the train with a certain pair. She had tried to speed walk faster than the two without too much suspicion. But clearly that failed for one she's riding with them this instant, two the annoying and obviously worse one of the pair made sure he mocked her for her efforts. It was good that Yamaguchi was the middle man between her and Tsukishima again.

"So is your class handing it in next Friday now?" Yamaguchi initiated a conversation in the reluctant silence. With a hold onto the hand strap of the cart, his thin figure swung unconsciously with the swaying of the train.

"Yup, I barely started it…" Yuzuki muttered.

"Our literature assignment got pushed back too right Tsukki?" Yamaguchi stated brightly to prompt his friend.

"Yeah they did." Tsukishima stated blatantly.

"A few extra days is always good." Yamaguchi nodded looking at the vinyl of the floor. Glancing up again he saw Tsukishima had fell out of the conversation to his music. The white headphones jolted another topic to talk about.

"Yuzuki-san what genre do you listen by the way?" Yamaguchi asked looking hopeful.

"I'm a rocker." Yuzuki made universal sign for the genre.

"Tsukki do you like rock then?" Yamaguchi quickly turning to Tsukishima again.

"I don't like any genre in particular." He answered coldly.

"Is that so…" Yamaguchi was discouraged by his tone. Yuzuki returned to scrolling down the newsfeed on her phone.

 _At least they're talking a little tense._ Yamaguchi kept his thoughts optimistic. Not exactly the reconciliation he had imagined but it was progress. Connecting them together in a conversation was very near impossible. _If only they would stop brushing me off so obviously…_ He sighed.

 _One more try…!_

"It's your stop Yamaguchi." "Yamaguchi-san it's your stop." Tsukishima and Yuzuki stated in unison without looking away from their devices. The announcement for the stop dinged above them.

"U-h yeah… Have a good weekend you guys…" _Do they even hear themselves…?_ Yamaguchi gapped at the feat. The two barely reacted. But rushing to the train doors to get off Yamaguchi felt a bit better about them. The possibility that the most important person to him in the world and his friend could get along grew a nanometer.

Tsukishima and Yuzuki both continued to keep to themselves as the peace wall called Yamaguchi disappeared between them. Still submerged to their own music devices they saw shuffling of people and seats they stood in front of them free up to only be quickly taken again. Yuzuki saw a granny coming from her right and stepped a little back to make room for her cane as she moved to a seat in front of Tsukishima. But from the left, a young man whooshed in and sat down on the open seat completely intrigued by his smart phone.

Yuzuki glared at him instantly. "This jerk—"

"People are degenerating aren't they?" Tsukishima announced looking at the young man. Yuzuki's glance to him was more of surprise than annoyance for cutting her midsentence.

"Yeah… especially in leg strength…" She continued in a sarcastic half growl.

"Their eyesight is getting equally as bad too." He added on.

"Hearing is probably up there on the list as well." Yuzuki faked a sigh.

"The generation has become rather weak." He made an emphasis on the last word.

"True, soon enough even elders will have better legs and physique than us. How pitiful."

"How embarrassing."

"How weak."

"So weak." The two said in unison glaring down the young man together.

"Alright I get! Don't need to be oh-so indirect and stuff!" He muttered getting up and sauntered away quickly from other judging eyes.

"Aww… and they get crushed so easily too." Tsukishima smirked to himself mischievously.

"Oba-chan (granny) you can sit down now." Yuzuki made way for her again.

Steadily, she sat down and smiled at the two.

"Youngster's tongues sure are scary when they team up." The elder commented.

"It was nothing." Yuzuki replied. It was a chance of unlikely teamwork.

"Is your knee alright ooba-san (granny)?" Tsukishima asked. Yuzuki's expression immediately became shocked at him and then at the elder.

"It was just a little push from the boy. My leg strength is much better than most youngster's right?" She smiled tapping a gentle fist on the said part.

"That's good…" Yuzuki sighed. On the inside she planned to ambush that kid later. He wasn't that much taller than her anyways. The announcement for her stop came on. That kid moved too.

Seeing her chance, Yuzuki bowed to the grandma before leaving. She peered at Tsukishima and tilted her head to make her glare stronger while he looked down on her without effort. The two ignored each other's existence again.

"I hope good things happen to her." The granny wished waving to the red haired girl.

"That would be bad on my part." Tsukishima muttered.

"It's about the perspective that matters. Cause and effects come later" The grandma smiled.

"Perhaps." He replied in a flat undulating tone watching the red hair walk into her weekend.

In the hallways of school again, Yamaguchi was all smiles with Yuzuki as support beside him. At least from what Tsukishima saw before entering the classroom. It had been a good long weekend for Tsukishima. Home alone with his headphones on for 75% of the time. Even now he still listened to the new playlist. With more tolerance than usual he waited for his brown haired friend.

"You really can't hate him right?" Yamaguchi grinned.

"Just go already!" Yuzuki pushed him forward teasingly. "I'll try not to curse him too much. Don't let those seven years get trumped!"

Smiling, Yamaguchi stood straight again and stared ahead to the person he wanted to look back him the most. He took a step forward.

Yuzuki stepped back and stopped in the hall. Observing them like she always had.

 _What was it that Shiori said before... The best friend is always better?_ Yuzuki recalled tilting her head up _._ Yamaguchi was definitely better than his partner she had to agree but that option is out the window swept into the deep sea now.

Over the long weekend she had rejected a certain null hypothesis.

* * *

 **Garigari-kun*:** a popsicle brand that exists in the Haikyuu universe and also happens to be Nishinoya's favorite food!

 **Thanks for reaching to the end of that chapter!**

 **The next one is already near the end of the planning stage.**

 **Anyways until then…**

 **If you got something to comment of the please do! Reviews are the best thing to get from you guys! :D**

 **-Vince**


	5. Null Hypothesis

**I am back to be the Dying Alive again. If I could write how sorry I am for not updating for so long there wouldn't be a chapter update but instead a lengthily sigh with rants here and there to fill the space… And so I can only express my immense my guilt by saying little…ish…**

 **Anyways while I wasn't be proactive for the new chapters I was re-editing previous ones since there were some points I really needed to change to make the story better. For specific changes and such please scroll to the end of the chapter for details!**

 **Another quick note this chapter begins on the weekend that was hinted in the last chap!**

 **Without further ado…**

* * *

 **Chapter 5:** **Null Hypothesis**

xxx

 **Null Hypothesis:** A hypothesis which the researcher tries to disprove or nullify. Null often states the commonly viewed accept. A type of prediction that negates all that is stated in the alternate hypothesis.

xxx

Yuzuki held the long red fabric in front of the ovular mirror. _To scarf or not to scarf…_ She grumbled. With the scarf she wouldn't have a neck thanks to her hair sharing its color. She could always risk it and go a few days without a voice and downing down cough drops continuously. Yuzuki put the scarf close to her grey toggle jacket that her older sister had said went well with the red fabric.

 _I wonder if sis would be down for hot pot or maybe noodles since it would be more practical…_ Yuzuki juggled the ideas and leaned closer to the mirror to finish the final knot on the scarf. _Spaghetti is a good idea too, it'll last us for a week lunch wise. But only she can take having that for lunch every day._ She dabbed the bloated parts of her eyes gently in hopes that her fingers were cold enough to shrink them more.

Yawning as she shut the door, she turned the doorknob out of habit to check its security. Yuzuki slipped her house key into the small black side bag and hopped down the metal steps of the second floor apartment. _Ahhh… let's just have the supermarket sales decide it._ Yuzuki stretched walking through the narrow streets towards the train station.

 **XXX**

Yamaguchi stepped of the train drifting along with the crowd that was only slightly smaller than that on weekdays. The cold breeze swayed his tall frame. He drove his hands deeper into the beige pockets of his jacket and hid behind his muffler.

It was way too cold for running an errand to the bakery. But at least he would be in the vicinity of the café he wanted to try right? Should he run by Tsukki's later and bring him something? There was something he wanted to ask Tsukki about this week's math problems anyways. What was he doing right now? Maybe he should get a few more desserts so the rest of Tsukki's family could have some too!

 _Ah that's only if the place turns out to be good._ Yamaguchi grinned hopefully to himself. _I wonder what Tsukki is doing right now?_ Yamaguchi sighed pensively breathing a cloud of visible breath to the sky until the buzzing of his phone distracted him and was caught up replying to a text.

 **XXX**

Perching up an arm, he skimmed through another page of nicely posed wing spikers as background music looped. Tsukishima looked up from the magazine and stared at his room's white walls, blinking passively. Pushing away from his desk, he leaned on the back rest of the computer chair to stretch. He tilted his head side to side hearing the muffled chinks of his neck release. Standing up, he crossed over to his bed in one step. Black hoodie, grey sweats and all, he laid himself on the covers with his feet sticking all the way to the mattress' edge. The white headphones he wore shifted in the motion so that they were pressing against his glasses uncomfortably. Frowning a little he fixed them.

He intertwined his thin long fingers behind his blond hair. Without anyone home he was completely undisturbed. There were no little sounds around that would seep into his headphones and interfere with the music. All of Yamaguchi's questions were taken care of and his phone lied on the night stand switched to silent. There was no possibility of a sudden intrusion. There was no better weekend he could ask for.

But in the corner if his eye he noticed the long list of songs and their respective bands sticking from his organized stack of homework.

On it, he could see the scribbled name of a band he had wanted to try printed in messy writing. After much contemplation, Tsukishima detached himself from the bed and snatched the song list he got from the Broadcasting Club at school.

 **XXX**

Yuzuki quickly apologized to the sandy haired mother and her equally sandy haired tall son she had ran into while reciting biology terms in her head down the long groceries leaving the house, she realized that she had blissfully forgotten about the biology test that was circled, stared, and highlighted on her calendar.

Crouching down to find the right brand of pasta, she felt her right coat pocket vibrate. Quickly she flipped out the device expecting a message. Instead her phone told her there was an extra 10% off on any tomato related products today at the supermarket she was squatting down in the middle of. It was good news but not the exact one she wanted. Yuzuki was expecting a text message from Yamaguchi.

The current topic was favorite food to help Yuzuki find inspiration on what to cook tonight and what to do for lunch for the rest of the coming week.

Downloading the coupon as she stood up, she moved over to the next isle with her basket that contained the new addition of a bag of spaghetti which hopefully wouldn't be the only carbs for the week. With phone still in hand, she searched for the perfect brand of tomato paste or really which ever label caught her eye first on the shelves.

Being in the isle of tomato products, Yuzuki joked to herself about bringing a box of ketchup to Yamaguchi's place if she was ever to go there. According to previous text messages, his whole family was big on potatoes or fries like foods. Yamaguchi's mother liked them crispy, his father liked potato wedges and he himself preferred soft floppy fries which was credited to being lazy at chewing his food when he was young.

Yuzuki chuckled behind her phone seeing the tiny version of Yamaguchi with more concentrated freckles on each cheek and almost completely toothless smile in the picture he had sent her.

 _No wonder he would've liked eating soft fries_. Yuzuki snickered. Walking around still, she grabbed a random box of strawberries and a couple of other fruits within reach. _He seemed liked he would be the type of kid with a billion of questions to ask_ _. But knowing him he probably apologize a lot for them…_ Yuzuki's thoughts continued. Just like how he would to his tall counter-part.

Yuzuki's imagination expanded.

 _I guess he… would also be very cute as a kid…_

Yuzuki ran away to the cash register to check out her items. Spaghetti week it is.

 **XXX**

Tousling his blond hair with one hand and the other swiping through the newly added songs on his ipod he made quiet even steps over to the kitchen.

Opening the fridge out of habit he was met with the chilly emptiness of its interior. Having predicted the results before, he didn't muster up any reaction except to turn and find a short note left on the counter by his mother and brother to tell him they were out groceries shopping.

The new playlist hummed in the background as he mused leaning against the granite counter. He felt a craving rise on his tongue on this slow afternoon.

Closing his eyes, he decided it was better that he went to get what he wanted instead of waiting and relying on someone else. Plus, it was a good chance to test out the playlist while he walked.

Fixing his white headphones he strutted back to his room to change.

 **XXX**

Sitting daintily at one of the chic teal chair and table set for two Yamaguchi welcomed the shortcake placed in front of him. The presentation was so nice it took him a minute to decide from where he should destroy first. Taking up the silver dessert fork he put it down again and flipped his phone out to send a picture to Yuzuki and Tsuki.

 **XXX**

Another message bubble popped up on the screen with a picture a pretty strawberry shortcake. In the caption he asked if cakes like this was hard to make and if she did it before in her Home-Ed class.

' _Baking cakes usually range from simple and straight forward to what-in-the-world-is-this-it-looks-good-but-tastes-like-a-curse-to-humanity bad. Usually it just takes a lot of practice instead.'_ Yuzuki typed out replying to Yamaguchi.

Rereading her message, she deleted several adjectives and settled with the descriptor of "really difficult to perfect" instead. Before sending it, she rewrote it.

' _Nope they're not. Do you like them?'_ She quickly typed back and stuffed her hand back to her warm pocket. Yamaguchi's reply was quick.

' _I'm glad. I actually like eating fruit cakes. Tsukki is the one that really likes eating strawberry shortcakes did you know? What kind of dessert do you like?'_

Yuzuki replied back with a fruit tart sticker.

Pressing send, she returned the device and her hand into the pocket of her toggle jacket. She hid behind the red scarf and pondered about Yamaguchi's sudden interest in Home-Economics instead of the impeding Biology test. It seemed to match his personality and at the same it didn't. After a short contemplation she flipped out her phone and revealed her dry hand to the cold again.

Swiping up to the previous message bubbles, Yuzuki noticed that their direction of previous conversations had a specific trend. The screen lit up again as she walked past a classic black lamppost beside a red bench.

' _Ah maybe I'll try that at the café I'm at right now~ Maybe I'll take Tsukki and you here sometime!'_

She smiled reading the text but it also confirmed her suspicion. Yuzuki pouted a little for not noticing it before and even slightly embarrassment too for following the flow of their conversation that always drifted back to a certain tall blond.

Yuzuki's expression was passive with the same unease plaguing her from before. Was she really right? She had that knowing feeling again just like whenever she watched Yamaguchi run to Tsukishima.

Another message bubble popped up from Yamaguchi that made her pause her steps in a jolt.

 **XXX**

Yamaguchi waved through the glass with a wide grin at Yuzuki. The gloom disappeared from her face instantly. He pointed towards the café's entrance.

She was quick to sit across from him on the dainty café table despite the bags of groceries trailing behind her the whole time. Her rustling display of the plastic bags caught the attention of the server who greeted her warmly.

After the usual procedures of settling in and ordering, Yuzuki sat happily across from Yamaguchi who was emulating the same aurora.

"I didn't realize it was this café that you were talking about. The fruit tarts here are the best!" Yuzuki commented as her order of the infamous fruit tarts came with a side of hot tea.

"Yeah, I should've texted the exact address to you." Yamaguchi chuckled. "Do you think the strawberry shortcakes here are good?"

Yuzuki stopped her first bite of the dessert to answer.

"I've tried them a few times and they were pretty good…" Her eyes panned over to the shortcake with a bite in it Yamaguchi had ordered. "Do you not like them or something…?"

"Ah, no! That's not it!" His hands flailed. "I just thought I would get an expert opinion..." Yuzuki immediately laughed at the outrageous comment.

"I'm not a good standard, get that Tsukishima to try it instead!" She froze as if she showed her imaginary tail to the public. Seeing Yamaguchi's expression change to a redder tone a coolness came over her neck as the knowing feeling inside increased. She felt like a scientist, one on the brink of discovery. Yamaguchi held his head down.

"P-pff-pff-hahaha" He broke into a fit of giggles. Yuzuki flinched and her brain hurt a little snapping from the glum it was in a moment ago to the brightness of his laughs. "S-sorry I was just remembering Tsukki's face when we discovered a café dedicated to strawberry related desserts a long time ago."

She put loose fist close to her mouth to cover the growing grin she had while watching him.

"Hopefully his tastes aren't too picky though. Strawberry shortcakes aren't really hard to make at home you know." Yuzuki remembering their earlier conversation. "I could teach you sometime if you want?"

"Of course I do! But the taste is another thing" Yamaguchi stated finally trying the shortcake in front of him.

"Don't worry, I'll be there to be preliminary taste checker." She took a bite of her dessert.

"I'm glad at least some damage will be wavered." He chuckled. "I just hope he'll like it."

"Geez, what godly deed did Tsukishima-kun ever do to deserve such a nice friend that purposely goes out and tries out their favorite dessert just to recommend places to them. Even trying to make it for them now too…You must really treasure this friend of yours." Yuzuki's tone rose and fell as she went, twirling her fork in mid-air.

"Yeah I guess I do." He laughed.

"You must really like Tsukki. He's lucky."

"Hahaha yeah I do."

"Quite a lot too if I must say, with all you're doing." She nodded.

"Yeah I really like Tsukki lots." Yamaguchi continued to smile bashfully.

"Right-"

They stared at one another, wide eyed, pale faces that were burning up, and wearing equally dumbfounded expressions.

Servers and customers that passed by their table glanced over worriedly as the two had a meltdown over the conversation.

 **XXX**

"I-it's gross isn't it…" Yamaguchi uttered when they finally settled again. A server came with the excuse of refilling their drinks to check on them.

"Of course not! I just didn't think that you would ever tell me about all this." She said in all honesty as soon as the server left them. She was still digesting everything Yamaguchi had unloaded.

"To be honest I don't really know myself. I guess it just went along with the flow since I've holding it in for a while." Yamaguchi smiled meekly. "But you really aren't grossed out? You don't even look that surprised."

"Well you can't say I'm not surprised…" Yuzuki began. "Like you know, in science you have a null hypothesis where it's the commonly accepted like to, um, to you know like the opposite gender in this case but then there's your alternative hypothesis where it isn't like that! When you accept the alternative hypothesis it's like you made a sudden new discovery! Like um a researcher! That's all! Do you… get what I mean?" Yuzuki's hands gestured every 'like' and stutter until they hung awkwardly in the air when she finished.

"Oh… Okay, don't worry I know what you mean." Yamaguchi nodded and smiled after.

"I'm sorry I've having a lot of troubles in Biology and it's really been hanging in my mind…" Yuzuki looked down at the table cloth.

"It's okay! I should be thanking you for spending time to hear me out when you could be studying."

"Not at all! But to like someone for 7 years is really something…" Yuzuki praised. _But why Tsukishima though?_ That thought still hung in her head. Yamaguchi you have to promise me if things get rough or you need help you have to tell me alright." She added.

"I don't know really, maybe I like the way he speaks." The skin on Yamaguchi's cheeks reddened again.

"You mean that condescending, sarcastic criticism he spews all the time." Yuzuki muttered.

"I guess it's something like that if you put it that way." He giggled slightly. With a perched arm, Yuzuki watched helplessly at the gentle boy across from her.

"Well if anything does happen be sure to tell me so that it wouldn't be a surprise when Tsukishima's nice headphones break." Yuzuki went back to her fruit tart. She had to think to swallow.

"That would definitely do some considerable damage." Yamaguchi laughed. Yuzuki grinned back at the freckled boy. "Then Tsukki and I will be in your care. Although I'm probably going to need more though..." Yamaguchi bowed.

"Eh..? Why- I mean I get it for you but why Tsukishima too?" She made a face.

"Well it's because Yuzuki-san has a really strong opinion on him." Yamaguchi laughed.

"No I don't…" She uttered.

"He can be a little mean sometimes..." He recollected.

"I can't help him if he carries salt around all day." Yuzuki replied back.

"Please try your best to give us both pointers!" Yamaguchi bowed again.

"I'll try with the little knowledge I have from one-sided love." She smiled, a little crookedly.

"Thanks you so much again for hearing me out Yuzuki-san!" He beamed.

"Just try not to skip home too happily."

Eventually, Yamaguchi still bounced out of the restaurant.

Yuzuki felt her neck for her pulse. It was still racing from the sudden eureka. She slumped onto the café table exhausted and in gloom. What to do, her instincts were right. Really, all this really wasn't good for her heart.

 _7 years is really hard to beat…_

She jolted up again to tapping on the window. Yamaguchi waved happily to her before he pranced off. She smiled and waved back but also in time to catch the glimpse of a certain tall blond crossing the intersection and coming in this direction. Just as Yamaguchi left her sight Tsukishima was here at the crossroad near the café.

 _Wow, that is some serious messed up faith they have…_ Yuzuki stared as the supposed star crossed lovers miss each completely as one came and the other went.

Smothering any of the last small burn she had for him in her chest. Yuzuki got up to pay for her bill and scram.

At the cashier, her eyes wandered over to the mass display of sweets. As per usual the most colorful thing there, fruit tarts, caught her eye.

"Excuse me, how much for one of the tarts?" She pointed.

"300 yen (about $3 ish)"

 _Hmm… What would sis like?_ Yuzuki mused bending lower to see the other options.

Behind her she heard bells rings as the café door opened. The servers greeted as usual and she heard a few mutter in buzz about his height.

 _What would sis like? What would sis like? What would sis like? What would sis like? What would sis like? What would sis like? What would sis like? What would sis like? What would sis like? What would sis like?_ She focus was unreal.

Unavoidably, Yuzuki bumped into his arm.

"Ah sorry, even with that bullseye red hair it's still a little too easy to **over** look you." A condescending smile was casted over her. Tsukishima stood tall beside her in front of the display cases.

With one sentence he managed to hit two sensitive topics to perfection. Yuzuki wasn't sure if her pulse was racing from anger or from pure astonishment at this blondy appearing beside her suddenly.

She smoothed over her expression.

"Ahahaha that's fine accidents happen right? Miss give me that last strawberry shortcake you have please." Yuzuki said pointing through the glass with a serious expression. Tsukishima watched in mortification as the server completed the task and the purpose of him going out get obliterated.

"The shortcakes here are just so good you know. Gotta take one home for the family am I right?" A wide grin spread over Yuzuki face. Touching a hand to her mouth, her expression was nothing short of mockery and malice.

Receiving the white box, Yuzuki was out of the café in no time. She would've done a cricket hop outside too if she wasn't carrying her prize and a heavy chest.

Tsukishima glared the whole time she was still visible. Seething would be a good word to describe it.

"Um sir is there anything you would like today?" The bakery girl asked lightly.

"Just give half a dozen of whatever cake you have." He snapped back still watching the red blob in the large windows.

 **XXX**

Remembering the bad part of his weekend, Tsukishima's mood slipped back into an unimpressed state. He turned away from the purple-red hair standing in the hallway. What she did wasn't something that couldn't be equated he thought to himself.

Coming back to earth again, Yuzuki began to walk down the hallway to chemistry class for the combustion lab. If she were to break down her problem into lab basics Tsukishima would be responding variable while his interactions with everyone else would be manipulated variables trying to make him respond. The hypothesis would be that he like the opposite gender. Where sense of freedom that she was supposed to feel after accepting her null hypothesis?

 _Ha. Even dating the best friend to sooth the burn is out the window and into the sea._

"Yuzuki~!"

Her head snapped up to see a black short haired boy waving her over.

"Ah Tsukiji-senpai, did you guys finish with the broadcast?" She asked running away from the two behind her.

* * *

 **And that's the end for chapter 5!**

 **Thank you guys so, soo, sooo much for supporting this fic, and man, reaching 50+ followers with 4 (now 5) chapters is a great feat for me. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!**

 **Until the next chapter!**

 **~Vince**


	6. Progression

**I like writing late, late at night/ early morning. But I tend to mess up typing Tsukishima as Tuski shima (yes with the space in between) constantly which actually worries me a lot… It actually took me up to 3 times to type out his name right just previously…**

 **Just a note, I edited bits from** **previous chapters (3,4,5) just to make events flow a bit better and less cringy in my opinion.**

 **Sorry for the confusion!**

 **Without further ado….**

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 **Chapter 6: Progression**

The human tank she stood behind today was really efficient at plowing into the train much to Yuzuki's delight. Being just a little more rude than usual (not really) she secured her usual spot beside the train doors. Successfully infiltrated into the train she sent her victory and position to Yamaguchi after rubbing her swollen tired eyes. A little after arriving at the next station Yamaguchi found a spot a little ways away from her, sending her careful glances between the spaces of people. First part of the plan was secured.

" _Can you see me well from where you are?"_ Yamaguchi texted, his fingers quivered with nerves.

Looking up from her phone Yuzuki gave him a thumbs up.

" _Don't forget to tell the four eyes salt shaker which cart you're on"_ She reminded adding a smiley emo-con while her expression was blank.

Yuzuki felt even more squeamish just watching Yamaguchi's hands shaking at a Richter's scale of 9 while he typed. _At least he didn't drop his phone…_ She muttered messaging her wrist from the infectious nervousness.

As the train moved towards the second part of their plan the anticipation grew. The two jumped in sync as the next stop was announced.

Unintentionally mimicking Yamaguchi, her heart was up in her throat too as the train lurched to a stop and a new crowd started to flood the train.

Like caffeine intoxicated hawk Yamaguchi leered at every person's face that walked through the door for the main target.

Yuzuki was the first to realize that the tall blondy should've been easy to spot even from down where she was amongst everyone shoulders. Her eyes quickly shifted to Yamaguchi whose expression went into slight panic as he picked up his phone.

Feeling the buzz of her phone she was ready to comfort or calm Yamaguchi or rage about the target.

" _Tsukki is already at school…. He walked today."_ She looked back at Yamaguchi, genuinely dumbfounded. Knowing that he owed her an explanation he quickly sent another text.

" _Unless there's an early morning practice or I'm running late we usually don't take the train since Tsukki doesn't like crowds. Also…Tsukki is actually a 20 minute walk away from the school… "_ Yamaguchi gave her a meek and apologetic smile. _Sorry Yuzuki….!_ He held up a hand.

Something inside Yuzuki rotted after reading that. And from the rot a weird relief was released. She sighed. She was saved from chest burns seeing the two.

 **XXX**

Seeing a teacher coming down the hallway, he pushed the white headphones off to hang around his neck. But instead of being confronted by a teacher Tsukishima's gold eyes followed a cautious classmate who shuffled up to him.

"Hey um… do you know where Yamaguchi is?"

"No." Tsukishima answered in a monotone looking down. The classmate shriveled a little more.

"W-well if you do see him can you ask him if he could take my cleaning duties again? I have practice today." He muttered and promptly left while still under Tsukishima's scrutiny.

 _Again huh…_ Tsukishima uttered continuing his way while catching the "quiet" complaints and comparison of his and Yamaguchi's atmosphere gossiped by the classmate. Guess someone is going to be late to their practice Tsukishima predicted.

Going past the shoe lockers, bright red caught his eyes and his light brow furrowed. Expecting it, he saw Yuzuki at the lockers switching her shoes but while she was chattering happily with Yamaguchi beside her. That was unexpected.

Tsukishima looked down to the edge of his frames remembering that Yamaguchi said he had taken the train this morning. They probably met up on the way here and chatted loudly as they went. He looked at the pair again. She was smiling an awful lot around Yamaguchi. It was a wonder how they only had that one sports med class together.

Blinking away, Tsukishima left feeling his eyes get sore from the red and purple in her hair.

Unbeknownst to the two, they continued to sketch out a battle plan after their failure this morning.

"So first is the café we went to last time, then the mall, then an arcade, and then finally Torono park!" Yamaguchi beamed.

"Sounds pretty solid, um when do you plan to ask Tsukishima to go the café now?" Yuzuki asked.

"I don't know really… didn't have much of a plan B… I guess I'll try to asking him sometime later in the day or during practice. I just hope I don't mess up and end up sounding suspicious…" Yamaguchi sulked.

"There's plenty of chances to ask him before Saturday hits since the week just began." She stated.

"True, maybe if I drag my feet in the morning a little more we'll be able ask him on the train as we originally planned. Then I won't be as nervous when I ask him since you'll be there as moral support. But then again Tsukki sometimes just goes off so that's not a guarantee either…" He muttered clearly from past experience. Yuzuki could feel the probable repeated failure too from him.

"Eventually I'll have to stop third wheeling you two anyways. So try your best to ask him yourself." She encouraged as they left the locker area.

"But you'll be at the café this weekend for sure right?!" Yamaguchi panicked slightly.

"Um.. I will this time since cafes are pretty to hide in so I could go undercover easily."

"That's good" Yamaguchi sighed.

"What's good guys?" Shiori blurted popping her head out around the end of the lockers.

The pair stumbled back in unison and grabbed onto each other for the sake of their hearts. Shiori smiled in satisfaction.

"Hate to separate you two but mind if I take Keina back?" Shiori grinned wrapping her arm around her significantly shorter friend.

"Ah uh sure sorry! I'll talk to you later Yuzuki-san." Yamaguchi said timidly and waved before he left. She waved back with an apologetic expression.

"Sooooo what were you guys chatting so happily about. I heard something about going to a cafe~" Shiori smirked placing pressure on the arm around Yuzuki

"Nothing really I was just helping Yamaguchi plan a date with someone." She replied normally.

"Huh?! But I thought—" Shiori whipped her head back to see if Yamaguchi was in hearing distance and back to Yuzuki who gave her a judging "it's none of your business" face.

Shiori sighed suppressing her gossip urges and continued walking to their classroom in silence with hands behind her head. Homeroom was starting soon.

"Stress is bad for the body you know…" Shiori advised snapping Yuzuki from her train of thought.

"Hm? What? Um yeah that's true… Say do you wanna go to downtown once more before exams start? There's a bakery I want to try!" Yuzuki smiled. It was a potential place for Yamaguchi and Tsukishima to go to for a date.

Shiori patted her red-purple blend of hair.

"Sure… if you want." Shiori sighed at her shorter friend who had taken her advice in the unintended direction.

 **XXX**

Tsukishima slide open the broadcasting room door. Looking at the room of little less than 400 square foot its purple red haired inhabitant was seated leisurely in the computer chair fast asleep beside the sound control panel.

 _Quite the dedication she has_. He muttered peering over from behind the worn chair to note the headphone brand she was wearing. He grabbed a song list sheet sitting beside Yuzuki's hand which was still on the volume nob. Beside it a small screen displayed the song she fell asleep to.

 _Living Dolls…?_ Tsukishima's expression twisted assuming it to be something of the loud metal genre. He stared at her softened and relaxed expression. _Must be quite the thick head to be able to fall asleep listening to this._

Standing straight again he glanced at the crooked black clock hanging on the left side wall. Only 10 minutes until afternoon classes began.

 _I wonder if those headphones are as sound proof as the advertisement boasted them to be._ A smirk surfaced on Tsukishima's face.

Slipping the recommended songs list into his pocket Tsukishima glided out and closed the door as quietly as he could.

It was a small payback for the strawberry shortcake he couldn't taste because of her last weekend.

Later, much to his amusement, while sitting through another class the sound of panicked footsteps echoed down the hallway. Glancing out the windows of the class a mess of red purple hair was half-running and half-walking awkwardly to her afternoon classes. Triumphant and frankly quite happy that she's miserable a proud smirk appeared on Tsukishima's face while watching her. But before she passed, he caught sight of her scrunched up face that highlighted thin knotted brows with annoyed eyes and pouting lips that completed the upset look.

Feeling an unnecessary irritation rise up Tsukishima turned away stoically from the windows. _It's just one class, why get so worked up for it._ He criticized. Tsukishima frowned deeply in annoyance at the structures of oxytocin and serotonin being drawn on the chalk board.

 **XXX**

Yuzuki made another deep sigh standing outside in the hallway. Clenching and unclenching her fists she hoped it would send some blood to the numbing arms she had to hold up as punishment for the period. The world obviously didn't like her since listening to her favorite playlist on loop got her into this mess. Seeing the figure that was sauntering down the hallway only further convinced her of the opinion. Pursing her lips, she could somewhat guess what was coming which made her heart tighten uncomfortably.

"Oh my, missing class to work on upper body strength." Tsukishima greeted her.

"Shut up, she's been watching too many Korean dramas and thought up this great idea… She's too old for dramas…." Yuzuki spat.

Tsukishima peered inside the classroom to see the familiar teacher. "Literature class hey." He smirked.

"Shut up."

"Isn't that reading assignment due today?" He continued faking a muse.

She took the liberty to show him her middle finger while still holding up her arms.

"Oh my with that kind of language you won't pass the class."

"Go away!" Yuzuki hissed. "I need this mark…." She muttered aside.

Tsukishima's eyes narrowed. There it was again that expression that was a cross between an irritated teen and pouting child. Up close he could see the creases in her red brows and bottom lip that jutted out into a childish pout.

Her pastel green eyes suddenly shot at him again.

"What are you doing here anyways, Mr. College prep-class. Watching me like this won't torment me further you know."

"Just running a quick errand." He replied nonchalantly. "It's hard not to notice something so red in the hallways you know, I thought I might need to do a detour to talk to one of the forgetful archery club members to take back one of their red bullseye targets."

Obviously getting what he going for she attempted to kick him. But after missing he flicked her painfully on the forehead and pointed to the classroom windows. Tsukishima watched in pleasure as her pout turned into a slight curl of the lips to growl at him. He walked away with a proud smile knowing she couldn't do anything behind him and strangely satisfied in making her expression change.

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 **The song Yuzuki was listening to is "Living Dolls" from One Ok Rock. Great song and do recommend a listen. And no it's not metal hahaha although I did have the same first impression when I saw the song title.**

 **If guys have any questions or comments regarding the confusion with the changes in the chapters please do tell. I'm really sorry for dropping sudden changes to the whole fic but hopefully they would make it altogether a lot smoother and have a lot more traction.**

 **And of course to my followers from chapters before I definitely owe you all an apology for this delayed update. Not saying sorry would definitely be ill-mannered. Life happens and literally whips you in the face and you get amnesia pretty much sums it up nicely.**

 **Anyways, thank you so much for reading and do leave a comment behind! They're always so nice to read and muse about.**

 **~Vince.**


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